Guelph City Council voted unanimously in support of a permanent overdose prevention site in Guelph on Monday.
The city has had a temporary overdose prevention site at the Community Health Centre on upper Wyndham Street since May.
The health centre is now applying to the province to be one of 21 permanent Consumption and Treatment Services sites under new provincial guidelines announced in October.
Applicants need the support of local council to be considered.
The 13-0 vote in favour of the application came at a council planning meeting Monday night.
Between May and November, Guelph’s overdose prevention site has seen 2,300 visits from over 250 unique individuals since opening.
A total of 21 overdoses have been reversed by trained medical professionals and the site also offers information and referrals regarding other social service agencies and assistance.
“This saves lives,” said mayor Cam Guthrie of the site, “and it helps people get off these addictions.”
He encouraged people to “get educated” on just what the site does and how it works.
“Get educated on what this site does. It is a very good thing for these people and ultimately for this community,” Guthrie said.
The new provincial model requires the 21 new sites offer a broad range of services connecting clients that use them to a variety of programs, including primary health care, mental health support and housing.
Several local agencies and health professionals expressed their support for a permanent site at Monday’s meeting.
Tracy Hobson, registered nurse and outreach harm reduction worker with Sanguen Health Centre, talked about one client who has been revived five times at the site, each time returning to the site to thank those that saved him.
She said the overdose prevention site provides relationships, dignity and life-saving care.
Adrienne Crowder, representing the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy, said a survey of users of the site said that the site being “safe and engaging” is of paramount importance and that the current Wyndham Street location is just that.
Dr. Ian Digby, chief of emergency services at Guelph General Hospital, said that “the suggestion that people just stop using opioids is a fallacy, a dream that we will not see happen.”
Marty Williams, executive director of the Downtown Guelph Business Association, also put his organization’s support behind the Consumption Treatment Service application.
“Our community is not immune to the opioid epidemic sweeping our country. We need all tools to help us to respond to it,” Williams said.
Raechelle Devereaux, executive director of the Community Health Centre, said that over 900 people responded to a survey conducted on the issue, with the majority being in favour of the site.
Quoting one of the clients that use the site, Devereaux said the site “takes some of the shame away.”
